We will spend our 2025 season looking back on the past seasons, especially the 50 greatest teams in history, which I call the best 50. The best team in baseball.
Here is a quick boilerplate note attached to each story I have in this series:
I compiled the best 50 by analyzing 2,544 major league teams from 1903 to 2024. (The historical percentile for a given club is the percentage of its other 2,543 teams.)
Please refer to my book to explain my TS calculations. The book also offers a separate breakdown of the best and worst clubs every decade, along with a comprehensive overview of the best 50 (including a position-by-position lineup and more information than you will find in this newsletter), and a similar summary of the 10 worst teams of all time.
Now enter today's profile.
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Team: 1942 St. Louis Cardinals
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Team Score: 85.734
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Ranking History: 39 of 2,544
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Historical percentile: 98.51%
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Seasonal record: 106-48 (.688)
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Season position: No. 1 in the National League
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Final identity: World Champion
The Cardinals have never won the National League since 1934, although they finished second in the next four matches. The most tense of these games is the recent games. The cards created a shiny record of 97-56 in 1941, only behind the Brooklyn Dodgers 100-54.
Experts doubt St. Louis can overcome the hump in 1942. “The Cardinals did not show enough running skills to lure us to pick them to win,” JG Taylor Spink Sports News.
It seems to be a fair assessment. The Dodgers roared to 9.5 games before July 4. They slowed down since then, but still scored 104 wins, enough to win any NL Pennant since 1910.
But the Cardinal eventually caught fire – the hit outfielder ignited Enos massacre and Stan Musical – Surprisingly, ranked NL in scoring (4.84 runs per game). After Independence Day, St. Louis passed the Dodgers in mid-September with a 65-19 (.774) record and won 106 wins of the championship.
Get a complete low in 50 greatest (and 10 weakest) clubs of all time
The Cardinal naturally entered the 1942 World Series as a weak person. The Yankees have won five of the last six world titles. It's hard to imagine they lose.
The first game achieved expectations. New York led 7-0, and St. Louis scored four meaningless runs in the ninth inning. But the next four games became even closer – and unexpectedly – all four games left. Rookie Johnny Beazley Two complete match wins were won, winning the fifth match to win the championship.
The New York press was stunned. Joe Williams World Intelligence. He contrasts the newly crowned Cardinals with the “noble and well-eating Yankees” which he calls “Oak Tree” [sic] baseball. ”
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Cardinal's long-term general manager, Branch Rickeymidway through the door in 1942 – he will become the president of the Brooklyn Dodgers in October – but the St. Louis Club still bears his unique imprint.
Rickey created the first farm system for baseball in the 1920s to ensure the cardinal's stable young talent. “The farm system is the only poorly-capable club that can be used to achieve respect,” he said. His innovation pushed the card to six NBA delicacies and four World Series champions from 1926 to 1942.
The club spins 10 players in 1942. Eight have not yet reached their 28th birthday. The smallest of the bunch is also the best. manager Billy Southworth The transfer of 21-year-old Stan Music to a cleanup period in mid-June is an unusual honor for the rookie. The left shooter scored an average of 0.315, ranking third in the NL.
Another corner fielder, Enos Slaughter, ranked second in the league with .318. The massacre ran around and even reached the first base after a walk. Old-style Frankie Frisch Praising him is “some of the busiest things in the game today”.
Mott CooperIn his first four seasons with the Cardinal, he did not win more than 13 games in his first four seasons in 1942. After each subsequent win, he continued to upgrade his phone number – swapping with his teammates. His final 22 leads. Teammate Johnny Beazley was runner-up in the NL with 21 wins.
